Unreal: Battle For Na Pali
by Frost1
Summary: Ash, who escaped Na Pali in the Skaarj escape pod, finds himself caught in a war between two human factions.


Unreal: Battle For Na Pali\par  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the Unreal Series.\par  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Skaarj escape pod, Na Pali's orbit\par  
  
Ash had no idea how long the pod drifted. He knew he was still in Na Pali's orbit, and he hoped that the Skaarj wouldn't find him and bring him back to that hellish planet where so many lives have been lost. He could still remember his trek through the landscape of Na Pali. It was worse than the prison ship, which he wished it made it to the prison moon earlier so he didn't have to experience the horrors that lurked everywhere on this planet. Of course, he did make it. He fought his through Skaarj mining facilities, Nali temples, Nali villages, crashed ships, and finally, the Skaarj mothership which he disabled. He remembered the warlord appearing in the generator core. The battle was tough, but he managed to beat it. It was worse with the Skaarj queen, however. He was surprised he killed it so fast. The thing was huge. It probably spent it's whole life in that chamber, giving birth to more Skaarj. After unloading rockets and bullets into it, it let out a roar and crumpled to the ground. He ran to the only exit out of the chamber and eventually came to the escape pod. He was relieved that he finally found a way off the planet. Now he realized that it didn't get him anywhere. He is still close to Na Pali, and any chance of other humans leaving the planet was very, very grim.   
  
The only live humans he did see on the planet was in Vortex Rikers, in the barricaded room near the bridge. There was four people in there, 3 men and 1 woman. They refused to come out, saying it wasn't safe. Back then, Ash was glad to get out of his cell. The only bad thing was the lack of survivors, with the execption of those people. The survivors who made it off the ship were slaughtered easily by the Skaarj and their brute minions. He recalled seeing a man being thrown against the wall and that brute creature blasting him to bits with rockets. When he came to the ISV-Kran, his hopes of seeing other humans soared when he saw how it was in better shape than the Vortex Rikers. When he got past the loading bay, however, his heart sank when he saw the dead crewmember's body in the hall. The log that was on the body only made things worse.   
  
Another thing he remembered, it seemed another race besides the Skaarj have also landed on the planet. Mercenaries, he called them, might have crashed just like the other ships did. He remembered that some parts of the ship were wrecked. A horrifying thought entered his mind after leaving the ship, WERE they enemies? He didn't see any Nali slaves or any signs of Skaarj activity. Before he entered, he saw a Skaarj warrior standing over a dead body of a Mercenary. That was enough to show that the two races weren't affilated with each other. Were they attacking him simply because he was an intruder? If he had stopped using his weapons and tried communicating with them, would they have helped him? Perhaps they were in the same situation as the humans were. Maybe every living thing on the planet was out to get them. He didn't know the answers to these questions, but he knew one thing. He had to get the hell out of this pod.\par  
  
USM vessel "Global Arms" \par  
  
What Ash didn't know was there was already a ship approaching his pod. It was a UMS vessel, probably the largest one to date. There was even a fleet of fighters docked in the docking bays. Huge guns were aimed straight at the pod, but there was no intention of firing. There was an observation window above them. A man with an army uniform, decorated with medals, stood staring at the pod floating in space. He turned to another man with reddish hair. "That looks like an escape pod, Matthew," General Ryan Cook said. "It is. Obviously not made by humans," Matthew said. "Well, let's haul that thing in," Ryan ordered. In about a few minutes, a robotic drone with rocket thrusters and robotic arms on the bottom flew to the pod. It's arms attached itself to the pod and the drone flew back to the docking bay. After the docking doors sealed shut and the bay pressurized, marines moved into the bay and aimed their guns at the pod which is still in the drone's arms. General Ryan ran into the bay behind the marines. "Whatever steps out of that pod should be shot!" Ryan screamed at the soldiers. They all looked at him like he was crazy. "Ryan, what the hell are you doing?!" Matthew asked angrily. "You're just going to shoot whatever comes out?" "Yes!" Ryan exclaimed excitedly. "It could be one of our enemies!" "Does that look like something Jessee would make?" Matthew asked, pointing at the pod. Suddenly, a hatch on the side facing them opened. A man stepped onto the metal floor.\par  
  
i Holy shit!\i0 Ash thought. \i Marines! \i0 All the marines still had their weapons raised. A fat man with medals on his uniform and another man stepped up to him. "He looks more like a prisoner than one of the ISV-Kran Constantino," the man with reddish hair said. "Where did you get this pod, sir?" "It's a long story. Maybe you could get those guys to put down their weapons so I can tell you what I just went through to get it?" Ash asked. Instead, the fat general told the marines to escort him to a cell in the detention area. The marines began grabbing Ash by the arms. Ash managed to punch one marine in the face. Another marine slammed the butt end of his rifle onto his head. Ash dropped to the floor unconcious. "Didn't have to make it that fucking hard," the marine commented. The other marine who was punched kicked Ash in the ribs. "Stupid bastard is going to pay for that!" "C'mon, let's get him to the cell." \par  
  
"Ryan, was that really necessary?" "Of course, it was! I thought it was funny!" Ryan said with a laugh. Matthew stepped over to the pod and examined it. "I don't know what the hell this is, but it definately was not made by humans. It looks like two huge knives attached to the sides of the pod." Ryan was standing there, pretending to be interested. Matthew stuck his head inside the pod. "I recommend calling up the scientists from the lab to check this out," Matthew told Ryan. "What for? You know Jessee made this! It must be a new type of escape pod!" Ryan declared. "For one thing, Ryan, the ISV-Kran Constantino crashed on the planet that the pod was orbitting. As far as we know, they haven't left yet," Matthew said. "And another thing, that man looked like a prisoner. Vortex Rikers disappeared in this sector not too long ago. He might be a survivor of that ship! I'm going to interrogate him." "So then we could see if Jessee is still saying stuff about me and my family! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my office," Ryan said proudly and waddled away. "Yeah, go back to your office and shove a carrot up your ass," Matthew said under his breath. Even though he was an advisor to Ryan and a close friend, he secretly despised him. The reason why Matthew was an advisor to Ryan was because he was known to screw up on his tactics and get his entire army blown to hell. So instead of giving him a lower rank, Matthew, a general himself, was sent in to help Ryan see what he was doing wrong. So far, he still doesn't see what he's doing wrong.\par  
  
A few weeks ago, Ryan found out that the newly built ISV-Kran ship, Constantino, was being commandeered by his long time rival, Jessee Constantino. Ryan told USM the ship was kidnapping people and genetically experimenting on them. When Matthew heard that, he knew right away he was making that up so he could go after his rival. They allowed him to pursue the ship, but so far no combat. The ship actually crashed on the planet where a number of other ships crashed as well. The damn Tarydium on that planet was messing up their scanners so they couldn't even track the location of the ISV-Kran Constantino. Only smaller ships like shuttles could enter the planet's atmosphere without crashing. Ryan planned to send shuttles full of marines down to the planet to search for the Constantino, but Matthew had a bad feeling about this. The alien pod, the human inside it, and all those weapons he found in there, some of them non-human weapons. He had to talk to the man right away. 


End file.
